Review: Aquarian Studio-X (very long)

[Jarick]

Background

 

I've been having issues with getting the tone out of the drums that I get in my head. A couple years ago I got a custom kit, 8-ply Keller maple shells, sharp double 45 edges, 2.3mm hoops, pretty standard (except the sizes - 8x12, 13x15, 16x18, 17x22 kick, 7x14 snare). But I've never been happy with the sound. The coated Emperors over clear Ambassadors sounded very dead, and I had some buyers remorse. The kick was better with Powerstroke 3 heads, and the snare was pretty good with a coated Ambassador over Ambassador snare.

 

So a month or two back, I picked up a couple clear Emperors for the 12 and 15 toms. I had some trouble seating the 15 because the bearing edge actually pushed against the collar! So I had to force the head onto the drum, which obviously made it an uphill battle. Eventually I got a decent sound, a bit of sustain, plenty of attack, and some overtones. But I still felt like they weren't "that" sound.

 

Today I picked up some Aquarian heads. I've only used the Superkick II and Regulator combo (which I found to be too muffled) and Double Thin clear toms heads (which I found to be way too papery sounding). But the concept of the "Sound Curve" collar would really help with my 15" tom and frankly I never gave their heads a fair shake. And though I went to the store with the idea of getting regular coated heads for the 12" and 15" toms, they didn't have the larger head in stock, so I picked up clear Studio-X heads and a snare head for S&G. I just got offered a studio gig for a blues-rock band, and I figured the slightly muffled heads would record a lot better than the wide-open heads I usually use.

 

First Thoughts

 

Fit and finish were fine. They're drumheads. They have brown epoxy glue instead of the yellow of Remo or the white of Evans. The hoop feels very sturdy, much stiffer than Remo's bent collar, not too far from Evans. And while the collar didn't appear drastically different, it was a bit rounder than the other brands. Both clear heads have a slightly hazy or milk appearance. What surprised me, never having used these particular heads before, was that the ring underneath was a thin plastic. I thought they were felt, like I had remembered the Super Kick head, but maybe I was wrong with that too. Anyways, it seemed like the kind of thing I could just peel off if I didn't like and could try and salvage a singly-ply head. The snare head was similar, except coated.

 

Snare - Coated Studio-X (over Ambassador snare)

 

First drum I tuned up was the 7x14 8-ply snare. The drum seemed very muffled at first, once I hit the lowest pitch after seating the head. As I tuned it higher and higher, it sounded more and more like a snare drum, until I got up to an acceptable tension. At medium tunings, the drum has short sustain, very controlled overtones, and a good woody sound. The attack is less pronounced than standard heads. The drum didn't sound overly muffled though, and I think this would be excellent for close-miking (since overtones are picked up much more once you get closer to the head).

 

At higher tunings, you would expect the overtones to emerge, but this wasn't the case with this head; the pitch was raised and it began to sound choked. Now I've heard this type of snare sound often in R&B and modern gospel (especially live church performances). In fact, this is the PERFECT head for that sound. But it isn't for me, so I backed it down.

 

Another thing I noticed, with the muffled top head, the snare head and snare wires are more pronounced. I have 16-strand brass Puresound wires right now, and even these sound pretty loud with this setup. If you aren't playing intricate music that needs pronounced snares, you might consider using a thicker snare side head and/or darker sounding wires. But on the plus side, I was able to really change the tone of the drum by raising or lowering the pitch of the snare head since it had more impact on the overall snare sound now. I ended up lowering the snare head until it was just a bit tighter than the top, which gave a REALLY huge sound.

 

 

Toms - Clear Studio-X (over clear Ambassadors)

 

The next drum I tuned was the 8x12 mounted tom. As I said before, I had a medium sustain tone with a decent amount of overtones and plenty of attack. Putting the head on, again, it sounded very muffled at the lowest tunings, but once up to pitch, it got less noticeable. I have the drum tuned medium to medium-low in pitch (B note) with the bottom head roughly the same pitch. The Studio-X had a bit warmer attack, more sustain, and a lot fewer overtones. The muffling ring did seem to shorten the sustain of the drum a bit, but once again, when close miked it would be great for recording. Again, the tone of the bottom head came out a bit more, and I had to pay more attention to getting an even pitch.

 

With the 13x15 floor tom, it was more of the same story. The drum tuned up very quickly, was easy to bring to pitch, and gave me a good amount of sustain, very controlled overtones, and a warm attack. Think the "DW sound" but not quite as bright. With this particular drum, I had the head tuned almost as low as it would go, making it a bit more muffled than the 8x12, but they still sounded very much like part of a family instead of disparate drums. In fact, they sounded a lot closer together than with the clear Emperors.

 

Closing Thoughts

 

I was very impressed with these heads on toms. While I would prefer a bit less muffling (maybe 1/2 to 2/3 as much), once the head is close miked, they will be perfect. As the name implies, they are meant for the studio, so they will sound a little deader in the room than on tape. But, they have a wonderful controlled sound to them and the single ply really opened up these drums. With the snare, I'm a little less impressed. Not quite to the point of switching back to the old head, but I still like a livelier snare. Still, I will keep these heads and give them a shot if I track the studio session because I have a feeling they will sit better in the mix than ringing drums. I may still try the single ply coated heads in the future, which should give a livelier sound and a bit more sustain.

 

The other thing these heads did was give me a better impression of Aquarian. They seem a bit warmer and quieter than Remo, which I already find a bit warmer and quieter than Evans. But I would think the tone of the coated single ply heads would be wonderful and I can see how their 2-ply heads have a good reputation. I will eventually swap out the resonant heads with Classic Clears and I am considering trying a Superkick I head with a Force II (Aquarian version of the Powerstroke 3). I'll have reviews of those as well.

 

The two groups of people I would recommend these heads to are inexperienced tuners and studio drummers. The muffling ring not only controls the overtones, it makes the overtones a lot more even. Between that and the collar design, these are by far the easiest heads to tune I've used. You don't have to be 100% with your pitches across the head to get an even tone. And for studio drummers, the controlled overtones and warm head should give you a great tom sound without as much gating, compression, and EQ'ing (not to mention duct tape, tissues, moongel, etc).

 

There are downsides, however. The warmer film does lose a bit of volume compared to Remo and especially compared to Evans. It probably wouldn't be suited to high tunings or very low tunings. Outside the studio or with a really loud group, you would probably want a 2-ply head that can cut through the noise. And with older drums with rounded bearing edges, they will likely be too muffled for any use. Stick with single ply coated heads for those.

 

I should note that the Aquarian marketing promotes their pre-tuned heads, which resonate when you tap them, even off the drum. While it's true this overstates the impact on the drum, it does seem to imply the drum head will have more even pitch under low tension than other brands. The trade-off seems to be that they cannot achieve the ultra-low tuning of other heads. Not those might not even be useful tunings, but I would think it could impact the kick drum. Just a theory though.

 

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Sorry for the long-winded review, but those are all my thoughts. I've been drumming for 15 years, although I'm only still a youngin'. Obviously not endorsed, hell I barely play anymore, but these are my two cents Let me know what you think.

[zildjian@consol]

Hey, Jarick thanks for review,how tight do you tune your tom heads?

[Jarick]

 

Hey, Jarick thanks for review,how tight do you tune your tom heads?

 

 

Medium to medium-loose. The 12" is tuned to a B and the 15" tuned to an E. So definitely not really loose, but they have a little bit of give and just a hair of pitch drop instead of a ringing/singing tone.

[Mickey66]

I do a fair amount of studio work and believe it or not I use these heads with my Pacific X7 Kit in the studio and it is the best recording Kit I have to date and I also have one high-end DW Kit and a Pacific LX Kit. I also use a drumdial to get me to a starting point which is the number 80 on the toms and 85 on the stocker X7 snare drum with a coated studio X batter...the toms are the clear studio-X single ply heads.

[white requiem]

That's a hell of a review. Hey Jarick, do you still have the Akira Jimbo snare? I'd love to hear an in depth review of yours on that.

[mikestix78]

yeah i wouldn't peel that white ring off if i were you.. i had the same idea, but for some reason it makes the head sound like {censored}. don't do it! hahhaa

[Jarick]

That's a hell of a review. Hey Jarick, do you still have the Akira Jimbo snare? I'd love to hear an in depth review of yours on that.

 

I never had one, but I DO have a 7x13 10-ply maple snare with 2.3mm hoops. It sounds pretty good, but it's kind of one dimensional in my opinion. 14" snares have a real diversity of sound due to the overtones they produce when you tune them high. 13" snares have more focus and pop and a more controlled ring because you usually don't crank them like 14" snares. So it's good for a cut-through-the-mix higher pitched crack, but not going to do the sock-you-in-the-gut low pitched thump or even a decent medium-tension snare sound. IMO of course

[HBdrummer]

Nice review...I had some on my birch kit...sounded great..dented up really fast! Someone told me I wasn't hitting 'em right:lol:

I have a Hienergy head on my Gretsch snare that absolutely sounds GREAT!

[Jarick]

After giving them a couple days, I'd LOVE to hear what it sounds like on a birch kit. They seem to tame the attack a bit as well as the overtones, and birch shells have plenty of attack.

 

Funny side note (well to me anyway). My mom, bless her heart, has put up with my racket since I started playing as a kid. Over the course of those years, she's heard me play for thousands of hours, and must have by osmosis gained some knowledge of drum tone.

 

When I asked her how the new heads sounded, she said the snare sounded "shorter, not quite as loud, a bit muffled." And the toms sounded "better, more powerful." She also said something to the effect of the kit didn't sound like me, that it was kind of quiet and weak, that my old kit was louder and brighter. She was referring to my Starclassic birch kit with clear G2's. So even she could tell the difference between maple and birch!

 

Anyways, after a couple days, I do like the heads quite a bit. I still think they are a bit too muffled, but they make them sound studio-EQ'd out of the box, and they work well with these shells.